The Sangre de Cristo Mountains seem splattered with gold in this photo taken from the Wet Mountain Valley floor just outside of Westcliffe Tuesday morning. Aspen trees may be reaching the peak of their fall color show this week. Click on the photo for a larger view.
Videographer Viviana Madronero-Rivero and Buena Vista filmmaker Curtis Imrie on the set of 'Chasing Tail.'
Among a few short films to be screened today and tomorrow at the Independence Film Festival in Pueblo is “Chasing Tail,” a 7-minute “trailer” for a long-form documentary by filmmaker and pack-burro racer Curtis Imrie. The film stands out as the only film made in the Arkansas Valley region, and features not only Imrie but other area residents as well.
I’ve known Imrie well enough to have watched this film being made over the past three decades. It contains footage from his early adulthood, on through to this past year, when a donkey he owns, Mordecai, was selcted as the mascot for the Democratic National Convention in Denver. It was this latest chapter that struck the imagination of videographer Viviana Madronero-Rivero of Gato Productions, who helped him sort through an ice chest full of footage about his life.
“Curtis spent literally years of his life collecting video to eventually make a film that could vividly demonstrate the evolution of a human life, from the early years and the youthful mistakes all of us make, to the choices along the way that seem mundane at the time, but end up defining who we are long-term,” Viviana says.
“To many people, racing donkeys in remote mountain towns might seem like a joke. In the context of a human life, it is the direct antithesis of an average American life with a house in the suburbs, 2.5 kids and an all-consuming career aimed at financial and material acquisition. But for people like Curtis, it is a way of life that provides joy, clarity and happiness,” Viviana says.
For those unable to attend the 7 p.m. today or 2:30 Saturday screenings in Pueblo click here.
New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson stumps for Barack Obama during the Pueblo Chile and Frijoles Festival on Saturday (Photo by Hal Walter).
We stopped by Pueblo’s Chile and Frijoles Festival today for a green chile burger at the Hopscotch Bakery, where co-owner Richard Warner was grilling beef out in the middle of Union Avenue. We walked down B Street to the Union Depot seeking a park bench, and found people scurrying about a stage and podium. New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson was due to speak in a few minutes. He was on a Colorado tour stumping for Barack Obama, who also was in Pueblo earlier in the week. Soon Pueblo Chieftain co-workers Peter Roper and Mike Sweeney arrived to cover the event. I happened to have my camera and was able to get some decent photographs of Richardson, who gave a resounding endorsement of Sen. Obama, and also made the case that the country needs a new direction after the past eight years. He encouraged everyone attending to get 25 people out to vote, which is one of the reasons I am posting this on Hardscrabble Times. I encourage everyone reading this to get out and vote, and to vote early if possible.
I think it’s important from time to time to have some health screening done. If everything is fine, great. If you need to adjust your diet and/or lifestyle, it also can provide the impetus to do that.
Life Line Screening was in Westcliffe yesterday. This company does ultrasound screening for carotid artery disease, atrial fibrillation, aortic aneurism, peripheral arterial disease, heart disease and diabetes. They tell you up front that if they find something terrible you will be told right away, but otherwise it takes three weeks to get the results.
I took it as a good sign when I was not escorted directly to an ambulance.
Life Line also offered a blood lipid profile test taken from a simple finger stick with results available in 6 minutes. Life Line says the test meets the Centers for Disease Control “Gold Standard” for accuracy. I was disappointed the pre-test survey, which is most likely used for scientific analysis, did not ask about eggs or lard, which I consume almost daily along with a lot of vegetables and fruit. My results:
Because my triglycerides were so low, the test was not able to calculate my LDL cholesterol, which people often call the “bad” cholesterol but is actually only bad when it oxidizes. It’s another discussion altogether.
The blood test also measured C-reactive protein, which is a marker for chronic inflammation, with high levels now considered a major risk factor for heart trouble. Mine registered at 0.67. Anything below 1.0 is considered a low risk, with 1-3 being average.
For those in need of some guidance about health screening and what to do about the results, I recommend the book “In Fitness and In Health” written by Phil Maffetone and edited by myself.
We keep a small herd of Angus-composite beef cattle on a 640-acre “school section” lease here in the Wet Mountains. These cattle are raised to very high standards using no antibiotics or growth hormones. They live on high-altitude grass and forage, mountain spring water, natural sea salt and minerals and nothing else. They are not fed grain and not kept in close confinement. This year we are in the position to offer some of these cattle for sale. We have animals available for pasture-harvesting by the local meat shop, as well as certified calves and cows and heifers bred to our certified Angus bull. Contact me through the comments on this blog for more information.
In recent years I’ve been playing with using my large-breed “saddle” donkeys to help me with the cattle, convinced they can do some types of work just as well as a horse. For the most part we’ve done pretty well.
Recently two of our heifers got through the fence onto Bear Basin Ranch so today I saddled Laredo and went over there to move these two strays back where they belong. I opened the gate on the upper end of our pasture, then rode around until I located the heifers, one solid red and the other solid black. They were downhill from the gate and against the fenceline. I figured between Laredo and my dog Sam it would be a cinch to keep them pinned against the fence and drive them uphill to the gate. The only problem was, these heifers wouldn’t budge.
Laredo actually bumped both of them and they would hardly move. Finally I drove Laredo harder toward the black heifer. We were both surprised when she turned, lowered her head and drove it into Laredo’s shoulder. There was a feeling of being off-balance, then he spun out of it and bolted downhill. I managed to get him under control in short order and avoided getting tossed.
We did eventually get the heifers moved back through the gate, but I have to admit the unexpected shove did get my attention. As I rode away the heifers were headed back toward the main herd.
A cold front brought clouds and interesting shadows over the Sangre de Cristo range Wednesday morning. This photo was taken from Colorado 69 south of Westcliffe. Later in the day, a light dusting of snow was seen on some of the peaks.
This is a britchin' holding a riding saddle in place on my neighbor Patti's mule.
I’ve noticed from the “stats” provided by WordPress, that some people have been coming to my site looking for basic information about burros and pack-saddles and other burro gear. I would like to provide answers to these types of questions, so if you have any just ask them in the comments and I will answer them based on my experience.
For the person googling the difference between a donkey and a burro, there is none. The word “burro” is Spanish for donkey. Out West we almost always refer to these animals as burros. Of course, a cross between a donkey/burro and a horse would be a mule.
Quite often people will refer to my larger donks as mules, and I’ve given up on correcting them.
As far as gear goes, when I first got into pack-burro racing back in 1980, one of the first things I realized I needed to buy was a pack-saddle. I bought a Colorado Saddlery Burro Pack Saddle for $175 in 1981, and it is the same one I’ve used in countless races over 27 years. I’ve also used it on a lot of training runs and pack trips on animals of various sizes. All the leather is still original and in good shape, and I don’t think a person can go wrong with one of these saddles for basic packing or pack-burro racing.
One problem in saddling donkeys/burros and mules is that these animals generally have a less pronounced withers than a horse, and thus the saddle tends to slide forward, especially on a downhill.
Pack saddles usually come with a “britchin’ ” (breeching) which is the rigging used to keep the saddle from sliding forward. While this style of rigging is the only way to go when packing a heavy load, many pack-burro racers instead use a crupper, which runs under the tail to keep the saddle from sliding forward.
While a crupper allows more freedom of movement in the rear end, and eliminates the chaffing that can be caused by a britchin’, some say it can put undue pressure under the tail at a point where a lot of nerve endings come together.
I’ve run a number of tests using both a crupper and a britchin’ and I’ve decided a britchin’ is the only way to go for packing heavy loads, and also on a riding saddle.
However, in pack-burro racing, where the animal must trot for very long distances and the burro is only carrying 33 pounds, it’s nearly impossible to get a britchin’ rigged exactly right so it doesn’t chaff the rear flanks. I’ve gone back to the crupper for training and racing, and have not noticed any ill effects. It is important that the crupper not be adjusted too tightly, and that it be made of good quality leather. The better ones contain flaxseed as a stuffing.
